Fort Worth officer worried about dying days before he was shot, wife says at murder trial

The wife and colleagues of a Fort Worth police officer who was killed during a robbery investigation in 2018 testified Monday in the murder trial of one of the men accused of being involved in the officer’s death.

Officer Garrett Hull was shot in September 2018 while he and his team were surveilling a group of men suspected in a string of robberies targeting Hispanic-run businesses in Fort Worth.

On the night of Sept. 13, police say, Timothy Huff, Dacion Steptoe and Samuel Mayfield robbed Los Vaqueros bar at gunpoint. As the suspects ran from the area, Steptoe shot Hull. Steptoe was killed when another Fort Worth officer returned fire. Huff and Mayfield are charged with capital murder for their alleged involvement in the shooting.

Huff’s trial was scheduled to begin May 31 but was delayed by a week because Huff swallowed razor blades, attorneys said at a hearing on May 31. Mayfield’s trial date has not been set.

During opening statements Monday in Tarrant County’s 396th District Court, prosecuting attorney Lloyd E. Whelchel emphasized that while Huff may not have pulled the trigger that night, he is guilty because he should have anticipated the possibility that someone would be killed during the robberies.

Whelchel said witnesses in the trial will identify Huff as being involved in other violent robberies and that Huff told police during his interrogation that he knew what Steptoe was capable of. Whelchel showed a picture of Garrett Hull on a screen in the courtroom.

“He never made it home,” Whelchel said about Hull. “At the conclusion of everything you hear, we’re going to ask you to bring justice for this family and find this defendant guilty for his part in this.”

Huff’s defense attorneys, William Harris and Patrick Curran, argue that Huff may not have been involved in the prior robberies, and witness descriptions of the suspects varied from robbery to robbery.

“This case is not as cut and dry as the state would lead you to believe,” Harris said in opening statements.

Hull worried about dying, wife testifies

The first witness who testified Monday was Hull’s wife, Sabrina Hull. She described how the two met in 2002 when she moved into the apartment complex where he lived. She had a toddler at the time and when she and Garrett Hull married two years later, they adopted a 3-year-old.

A few days before her husband was shot, Sabrina Hull said, the couple had talked for the first time about the possibility of him dying while on duty.

Sabrina Hull said her husband, who worked with the Fort Worth Police Department’s criminal intelligence unit, was tracking a group of violent robbery suspects. He told her, “These guys are really dangerous, babe.” He told her he was worried, and he even told her what song to play at his funeral if anything happened to him.

On Sept. 13, 2018, the family celebrated their oldest daughter’s birthday. That night, Sabrina Hull knew her husband would be working late. She texted him goodnight at 10 p.m. and went to bed. In the middle of the night, she woke up to someone knocking on the door. Anthony White, another Fort Worth officer who lived near the Hulls, was at the door with his wife. He told her something happened to Garrett and she needed to go to the hospital.

“I told him, ‘Give me a few minutes. I need to go pray,’” she testified Monday.

When she got to the hospital, her husband was unconscious. He died the next day.

‘Officer down’

Fort Worth police officer Dallas Connor — a 29-year police veteran — testified on Monday after Sabrina Hull. She described her work on the criminal intelligence group alongside Hull, and how the unit was tracking a series of “very vicious” robberies in Fort Worth in 2018. The team identified multiple suspects and tracked the group’s Tahoe used in the robberies.

On Sept. 13, 2018, the team planned surveillance of the suspected robbers. The team did not have enough evidence to arrest the suspects, yet, but suspected they might try to rob another business. If a robbery happened during surveillance, Connor explained, the team would face the difficult decision of not stopping the robbery. If the suspects were interrupted during a robbery, she said, they might take the patrons hostage.

“Everything was strange that day,” Connor said.

As the officers tracked the suspected robbers — who Connor identified as Huff, Mayfield and Steptoe — the robbers started to circle a neighborhood in the South Side of Fort Worth near Los Vaqueros bar. The men were first confronted by a homeowner and drove away from the neighborhood, but they returned at about 9 p.m., Connor said.

“I thought, ‘Here we go,’” Connor said.

The men went into Los Vaqueros bar on Biddison Street. Connor and the other officers — who were all in separate unmarked cars around the block — put on their body armor and got their guns ready in their cars. They called for backup and waited for the suspects to leave the bar.

Connor got out of her car and went to an alley behind the bar. She suddenly saw people running toward her in the dark and heard gunfire. After the first round of shots, she said, she heard someone on the radio yell, “Officer down!”

Fort Worth Officer M. Putnam testified that he responded to the robbery when Hull’s unit called in backup. He saw one of the men — later identified as Steptoe — run from the area of the bar and climb over a fence. He and Hull chased Steptoe, and Putnam yelled that the suspect had a gun. He yelled for Steptoe to stop, but he did not listen.

Steptoe continued to run down the street and turn into a driveway, where Putnam lost sight of the suspect and Hull behind a pickup truck.

“The next thing I heard was gunshots,” Putnam said.

Putnam said he ran to Hull and saw Hull and Steptoe shooting at each other. Putnam tried to get around the truck in the driveway to get a straight shot. More shots rang out, and Hull fell onto the ground and blood began to pool around him, Putnam said. He got on the radio to say there was an officer down. Steptoe pointed his gun at Putnam, and Putnam shot him. Steptoe still did not drop his gun, Putnam said, and Putnam and another officer who had come to his aid shot Steptoe again.

Officer Edwin Bounds was another officer on the criminal intelligence group with Hull and Connor. He also described the events of the night Hull was shot.

“Something about that night just didn’t feel right,” Bounds said on the witness stand.

He described tracking and watching the group of men as they went into Los Vaqueros. When a man came running out the front door, Bounds knew they were dealing with another robbery. He ran south on Main Street and heard gunshots.

When Bounds reached a swarm of police cars, he saw someone lying on the ground. In the darkness, Bounds could not see the person’s face, but he could tell they were wearing blue jeans. His own unit was the only group wearing jeans, and he realized the person on the ground was Hull.

Huff ran from the bar but was caught by police in the back yard of a nearby house, Whelchel said during opening statements. Mayfield was arrested about an hour later in a parking garage.

Numerous patrons who were in Los Vaqueros the night of the robbery testified Monday. The manager of the bar said she was working that night when she heard someone yell, “Get down!” She turned to see her uncle walking toward her — while a man behind him pointed a gun at him. The person’s face was covered and she could not see him clearly, but she saw some of his skin and described him as a Black man.

Jason Vasquez was a customer at the bar that night. He said he realized something was happening when the man sitting next to him put his hands up. One of the robbers hit him in the face with a gun, he said, and took his wallet and phone.

Another woman said she was playing Candy Crush on her phone in the bar when the men came in and told them all to get down. A 29-year-old testified that the robbers — who wore ski masks — were in the bar about 10 to 15 minutes. He said he wishes he had never gone out that night.